Deify or crucify? Do we really know the pros?

The only thing that could have possibly been more disturbing on this Fourth of July weekend is Mom being arrested for poisoning the apple pie.

Coming soon to the NBA's parallel universe: Allen Iverson wins community service award and releases tribute album of Pat Boone songs.

I'd like to say I'm shocked and horrified that Bryant and Armstrong--two of the NBA's good guys and two of professional sports' most beloved role models--find themselves in trouble with the law.

But if I've learned one thing in nearly two decades of covering sports for a living, it's this: We think we know who these athletes are, but we don't.

Not really.

We only know their carefully crafted images, created and cultivated by sneaker reps, PR people and marketing firms.

It's true, these are only accusations at this point--accusations that already have been refuted by the parties involved.

Bryant told a Lakers team official that the sexual assault charges were "bogus," according to a Los Angeles Times report.

Armstrong implied Monday that the police are also culpable for his arrest Sunday night after a scuffle with a female police officer outside a nightclub.

Magic teammate Steven Hunter, who was also at the nightclub and said he witnessed the whole thing, claimed Monday that the police "overreacted."

It wouldn't be right to paint these guys as sinners before all the facts are in. But maybe, too, there is another important lesson here: Don't prematurely portray them as angels either.

Too often these days, that halo has slipped down to become a noose.

Professional athletes should come with a surgeon general's warning: "Idolize at your own risk. Glorification can be hazardous to your health. Beware of disillusionment."

How many times do we have to get burned before we learn?

How many times must we scream out--"Say it ain't so, Kobe! . . . Say it ain't so, Darrell! . . . Say it ain't so, Sammy!"--before we go from being bewildered to just being benumbed?

It's time to stop drawing the line of demarcation between the good guys and the bad guys because the line is blurred now more than ever.

In the past few weeks, we've seen some of sports' most enduring and endearing role models dragged through the cesspool of scandal.

Armstrong, the only Magic player in history to win the team's Community Enrichment Award twice, is arrested in a scuffle with the cops.

Heart and tussle.

Bryant, the young, handsome, hard-working family man, now is accused of the same abhorrent behavior that put Mike Tyson in prison.

From Showtime to sex crime.

And this comes on the heels of the universally beloved Sammy Sosa being caught cheating and Kirby Puckett, perhaps the most lovable, huggable athlete in baseball history, being on trial on charges of felony false imprisonment and gross misdemeanor sexual conduct.

Puckett's ex-wife Tonya told Sports Illustrated recently about the secret life of her former husband, whom she accused of such abusive methods as putting a cocked gun to her head, locking her in the basement and trying to strangle her with an electric chord.

"Look at all of them," Tonya Puckett said.

"I don't know of too many athletes, even the ones who claim to be these wonderful Christians, who aren't out doing some terrible things. It's insane."

Peel away the outer layer of any man, and brace yourself for what you might find inside. Pierce that public shell, and ugly secrets too often ooze out.

Not because they're athletes, but because they're human. And humans, all humans, make mistakes.

In fact, we usually make two crucial mistakes of our own when judging athletes:

We're too quick to crucify--and deify.

Just remember this next time you catch yourself looking up to an athlete: You don't really know the person; you only know the persona.